Worldwide

This episode is banned due to Kaiser pointing a gun in Ash's face and threatening to shoot him and because of Jessie, James, and Meowth shooting Kaiser to catch the Dratini. The episode also contains profanity (for example, James swears at Kaiser). Also, there is a mistake when Ash says he found a Rhydon, whereas he actually found a Rhyhorn. Later in the episode, Misty mistakenly refers to her Staryu as a Starmie. Also, when intaroggating Kaiser, Meowth has a mustache that people think resembles that of Adolf Hitler (although this was unintentional).

This episode is infamous for causing many seizures when first aired. In the episode, Pikachu, in order to stop some missiles, uses a Thunderbolt attack. This leads to a very large and quick sequence where lights flash very quickly and vividly on screen. Some of these lights were strobe lights being flashed at very high speeds. Many viewers reported dizziness and nausea as a result of this. 685 children were taken to be hospitalized, although only 150 were kept overnight for observation. Also, despite rumors, there is no evidence to suggest that any of the viewers suffered lasting injury. The episode has never been shown again and has set guidelines for flashing lights in anime. To remove the episode from the public mind, the character Porygon has never appeared again over the course of the series.

This episode was set to air in Japan but was delayed in because of the Great East Japan Earthquake which also caused a tsunami. The episode also featured Castelia City being destroyed. It is currently unknown when they will air it in Japan and other countries.

Unaired

Removed by 4Kids

This episode revolves around all the female characters entering a swimsuit competition, including James, who, in order to enter, buys a pair of inflatable breasts. The episode is notable for one scene where James is waving his fake breasts in other's faces for comedic effect. The image has become a quite popular GIF on the internet. The scene that got it banned was later removed from the English dub, but it was badly cut however.